The TEMPORARY AUTONOMOUS ZONE is a concept developed by Hakim Bey, in an effort to make a space for free action in a world increasingly hemmed in by strictures, rules and prohibitions. This concept, referred to hereafter as TAZ, takes as its basic tenet the idea of insurrection, as opposed to revolution. It is a struggle to clear an area within the system, rather than to supplant that system. This acknowledges the fact that after a successful revolution, the victors are then, by definition, the system, and will begin act as such despite their best intentions.

TAZ short-circuits all such notions, by concentrating on liberating a *useful* amount of space, time, energy or whatever and holding onto it only as long as the effort required to do so does not exceed the gain to be had from occupying such a liberated zone. When such a trip point is reached, the zone is released back into the system, and a toehold is sought at some other propitious juncture. This Temporary nature of TAZ gives it great power, as energy is not wasted holding untenable positions.

There are three main characteristics of TAZ: Psychic Nomadism, Disappearance, and Rhizomal Organization.

Psychic Nomadism implies taking as one needs from any moral, religious, political, ethical, or whatever system, and leaving behind the parts of that system found to be unappealing. No more blind allegiance to anything. Such a strategy facilitates the construction of ad-hoc reference frames in which to situate the temporary actions required by TAZ.

Disappearance refers to a positive form of dropping out, a way of being without being seen, the ultimate camouflage of invisibility. It refers as well to a strategy of fading away in the face of actions intended to destroy TAZ. Since no revolution is intended, there is no reason to fight --far better to just move on and start another TAZ, which will have its shining day in the sun, until it, too, must be vacated.

Perhaps the defining characteristic of TAZ is rhizomal, non-hierarchical organization. A rhizome is a tuber, the underground part of certain plants such as the Iris flower. These rhizomes grow in a branching pattern with *no preferred axis*, as opposed to the hierarchical root structure of most plants. A rhizomal organization, then, has no 'chain of command' and no center; any part of it is as likely to manifest growth and development as any other. This property reflects the same kind of self-similarity that is modeled by fractal theory, and indeed TAZ can be thought of as a 'Strange Attractor'.